In the course of his lecture Thomas Freedman brought up Africa and poor countries in Asia where energy is not readily available for use. He said that these countries were energy poor and that because of this they could not access the internet and the knowledge that this resource provides. Even more importantly, they cannot use electricity for a light source.
Because of this single disadvantage companies cannot compete in the global market because their production capability is too low compared to foreign companies that have the advantage of electrical energy, which enables them not only to work 'harder', but also to work longer. Students cannot keep up with the education standards in other countries because they cannot study once the sun is down, as they have no lights to read by. (many go to the airport to use the lights there) Moreover, they lack access to the internet as aforementioned, and so their ability to learn on their own or to learn a wider variety of knowledge than is offered by their meager textbook supply is greater reduced. This simple fact destroys Africa's ability to compete at all or to revive itself from the economic and political mess that it is in. However, providing Africa with energy would only increase the amount of emissions that the environment has to shoulder, and that is not okay, and again the solution is clean energy.
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